The Program in Critical Theory

The Program in Critical Theory

The Program in Critical Theory enables enrolled PhD students from across the social sciences, arts, and humanities to obtain certification of a Designated-Emphasis specialization in Critical Theory. 

Recent Stories

Critical Theory Dissertation Awards Support Graduate Research

September 6, 2022

The Program in Critical Theory will support four Designated Emphasis students’ dissertation projects in 2022–2023. Kevin Stone and Saniya Taher will receive semester-long Critical Theory Dissertation Fellowships, while Phillip Campanile will receive a Critical Theory Completion Grant and Laila Riazi will receive a Critical Theory Research Grant.

Support for this year’s awardees is generously provided by the Magistretti Graduate Fellowship Fund through the Division of...

The Program in Critical Theory Welcomes 12 New DE Students

July 26, 2022

The Program in Critical Theory is delighted to welcome 12 new students to the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory. The new cohort includes graduate students from Berkeley departments in the social sciences and humanities. These new admits bring the total number of Critical Theory DE students to 101.

Critical Theory Graduate Student Spotlight: Jaeyoon Park

March 4, 2022

Jaeyoon Park is a PhD candidate in Political Science with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory. His dissertation charts the transformation of scholarly and popular discourse on addiction in the United States over the past half-century. Working with texts ranging from scientific articles and diagnostic manuals to 12-step handbooks, it explores how addiction has been reimagined as a normal feature of human experience in our time. In Fall 2022, Jaeyoon joined the political science faculty at Amherst College.

This interview was conducted in Fall 2021.

UC Berkeley’s Designated Emphasis (“DE”) in Critical Theory offers courses on foundational nineteenth-century theories and discourses of critique; on the Frankfurt School; and on other modern and contemporary forms of critical theory, including critical race theory, postcolonial theory, feminism, gender studies, queer theory, critical legal theory, and modes of critique arising from structuralism and poststructuralism.